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Thursday, 12 December 2013

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!!!! So! I have seen "The Desolation of Smaug" Yesterday. Did I love it? Yes I did. Was it better than the Unexpected Journey? It is continuation of the story. I look at it as a whole, one story told in 3 parts. This part was bit more dynamic compared to the first. I would score this part 8,5 out of 10, just like the first part.

I had no problems whatsoever with all the deviations from the Tolkien writings. Among other, Tauriel is awesome addition to the movie, just like the pale orc from first part. Nice to see Legolas here as well.

As
far as the Smaug goes, "Truly songs and tales fall utterly short of
your enormity, O Smaug the Stupendous..." This quote is spot on. Smaug
is terrific. I had fears of "talking Smaug" but it worked out. Tho, I
have to say It could have been made more realistic, and I'l explain my
reasoning. I liked how when Bilbo puts on the ring he picks up spiders
talking in Mirkwood. Sort of like, when you put on One Ring you can
sense, see and hear things others cant. I loved that. In my opinion.
They should have kept that thing working trough the entire movie. When
Bilbo faces Smaug. He should have been the only one that can "understand
and hear" Smaug, regardless of whether he has the ring on his finger or
simply in his hand. Anyone who holds the ring has his senses altered..This
would make dialogue between the Thorin and the Smaug pretty much
impossible, or one directional to say the least... But they could have
made that work as well. Smaug doesnt have to say anything to Thorin, his
actions speak more than words.

Point is, I liked it, but I
think it could have been made even better and more real, or more in sync
with the LOTR and the "already established universe where
animals/monsters dont speak" Imagine Balrog in the first LOTR, when
confronted with Gandalf who says to him " YOU SHALL NOT PASS" imagine if
Balrog replied with anything else but a roar and a thunderous fiery
whip crack?

This was one of the issues I had with Unexpected
Journey as well. I still can't get over the three Trolls in the forest.
They could have talked, but not in some english accent, they should
converse in some trollish, orkish something something language.. I
mean, I get that that scene in particular was constructed in a manner
for the younger generations to have fun, but this same scene could have
been made with Trolls speaking trollish and still make it fun and make
the trolls look kind of retarded and clumsy... To sum it up.. Smaug
was awesome. Visually, it is f#ing stunning and I loved it from the top
of his snout to the tip of his tail.. Anyways, what I felt in some
parts of the movie is, as if it has been rushed. Some scenes lack the
beautiful cinematic photography compared to some others. I was not a
fan of using HD GO PRO footage in some moments during the barrel down
the river scenes(which was fantastic btw, the choreography of dwarves
and elfs fighting orcs in that part of movie were pure fun) There
are couple more of these rushed scenes and parts in the movie. But non
of it was detracting from the general atmosphere.. The Gandalf/Sauron
confrontation was intense and I simply loved it!! I really love these
deviations from the original story. PJ and co are doing great job in
adapting the story to the screen and are pretty damn successful in
adding their own twists and turns to the plot. Hmm.. There is so much in my head, it is hard to pick this beast of a movie apart. Yes,
the entire Bilbo/Smaug talk was brilliant. Later on Dwarfs join in and
start running around the halls( excactly in the point one coin falls
from Smaugs belly in front of Bilbo). That was all great. Until that
point they all start to lure the dragon to those furnaces and that big
golden dwarf cast in the "King Chambers"(not sure if that was the name).
I felt there were bits that were rushed in those scenes as well..
Smaug getting caught under the cable cart lines and so on, sort of as if
they ran out of ideas of how to make it work. What exactly dwarves need
to do to get Smaug killed. I'm comparing these sort of messy scenes
where they fight Smaug to the point in movie where Bilbo and dwarves
came to the spot of a supposed entrance into the Lonely Mountain. The scene where Bilbo figures out it was the moon light they needed to discover key hole and not the sun light. Exact
scene I'm thinking is when Bilbo searches for the key, then kicks key
with his feet, then Thorin stomps on the key lace and stops key from
falling over the edge. Picks it up and moves in towards the stone.. That
scene was f#king epic in a most Epic kinds of ways. That metallic sound
of key flying towards the edge.. These shots were filmed impeccably,
immaculate. These are the shots that make up cinematic history. That
scene in particular reminded me to the scene from the "Fellowship of
the Ring" when Frodo "lost" ring in snow after he slipped down the
slope, only for Boromir to pick it up and say "It is a strange fate that
we should suffer so much fear and doubt over so small a thing. Such a
little thing" ...Chills down my spine!!!...This is what I'm talking
about. Pure cinematic art. There are lots of these small "gem of a
scene" bits in "Desolation", but there are couple of scenes there that
could have been left out or done better.....I need to go and work.

Bottom line is, Desolation is great, I enjoyed it, and I'l see it at least one more time before I own it on Blu Ray. My
conclusion: It is without mistake another accumulation of beautiful and
breathtaking artistry of all forms put together by passionate and hard
working group of people, all in one place, and should be thoroughly
enjoyed for that.